A pagan feast for Rick Owens, disco party for Paco Rabanne

The Rick Owens catwalk show at the Paris Fashion Week had the feel of a pagan ceremony, held within the stone and marble setting of the Palais de Tokyo. The models, like living sculptures draped in imposing swathes of fabric, stepped around a mist-enveloped basin, creating the kind of post-apocalyptic atmosphere typical of the US designer.

While these other-worldly women marched around in their cocoon-dresses underscored with asymmetric folds and bulges, suddenly the basin's fountains switched on, water gushing out in abundance and splattering the spectators, who had been provided with water-proof wind-breakers.

Rick Owens' outfits were completed by generous bags which seemed to be strapped to the models' waists, and thick-soled sport sandals good on all terrains.

Paco Rabanne: disco rules

Paco Rabanne's Creative Director Julien Dossena presented silhouettes that gleamed with a thousand sequins, their endless tasselled fringes swirling with the models' movements. The label's signature metallic dresses featured in a pared-down version, for dancing the night away unencumbered, with low-heeled boots for comfort.